Chapter 203
Claire’s POV
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Darius smirked like the overconfident asshole he could sometimes be – when he wasn’t being a vicious little coward, anyway. Right now, he grinned like he had all the good cards in his hand and was finally ready to show it.
“Darius,” George said, taking in the sight of the man. “What are you doing here?” He eyed the shackles binding Darius’s wrists. What Darius had attempted to do to me and to Leo was no secret. Word traveled through all the packs and George had to have known about it as well.
Maybe that was why he seemed so confused to see the man. Or maybe it was because, “I cast you out of here years ago, and yet you dare show your face again?”
“I didn’t have much choice this time,” Darius said and raised his bound wrists. The metal shackles clinked together as he shook them.
George looked to Gideon first and then to me. “Explain.”
I opened my mouth, but Gideon answered before I could. “Darius is here to confess.”
“Is he now…? Well, then, Darius. Tell me what you have done this time,” George said.
“I know what happened to Lena,” he said.
The air in the room seemed to vanish. George stood tall but tense. Every single one of his muscles flexed at once. I briefly worried he might have a heart attack, but the fire in his eyes told a different story. This wasn’t a moment of weakness for him, but one of fierce determination and fiery strength.
“Tell me,” he said.
“I was here around that time, you probably remember. We were negotiating terms for a business contract. Your…” Darius cleared his throat. “Lena wasn’t very agreeable with my terms. She was difficult, and often talked back to me. To you, as well, if you recall.”
“Lena was a spirited woman with her own mind,” George said gruffly. “That was one of the things I loved about her.”
Darius sneered in obvious disagreement. “Well, I found her much too difficult to deal with. She kept stepping in where she had no right to belong. Victoria though… she was more agreeable.”
“What are you saying?” George growled.
“Speak plainly,” I snapped. “Enough rambling. Get to the point.”
“I am trying to,” Darius said, glaring at me. “You are just like your mother.”
That was a compliment to me, even if he meant it as an insult.
With a sigh, Darius continued, “Victoria just wanted money and a certain man’s affections. I wanted power and prestige. It was an easy enough trade. I would support her run for Luma Queen, helping her financially, if she would give me special favors and help push my business dealings through.
“There was just one problem at that time.”
“My mother,” I guessed.
“Lena,” Darius agreed. “And you, Claire. The birth of a child, an heir, added even more complications. In the end, I didn’t have to do more than provide a means. Victoria is the one who took advantage of it.”
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10:12 Thu, Feb 19 M
Chapter 203
“What means?” George asked.
“Poison,” I said, realizing.
Darius nodded. “Poison.”
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“I don’t believe this,” George said, his voice small, but growing louder. “You expect me to think that my wife could have… that she would have…?”
“We have some evidence to back his claim,” Gideon said. One of our guards handed him an envelope and from it, he produced the apothecary’s records and then the toxicology report. George looked through them one by one, more and more stricken.
Then, from my own bag, I withdrew Lena’s diary. “Perhaps you would like to see it in my mother’s own words.”
Seeing the diary, he froze. His hand shook a little as he took it from me and opened it. We all watched him as he skimmed through the pages. A small smile formed at his lips in the beginning, but it quickly vanished, growing darker, until on the last page, he glowered.
“Victoria…” he said without any affection now, anger and betrayal in his voice.
I withdrew the picture Daniel had kept, of he and Lena with Victoria glaring at them from the background.
George took the photo. If looks could start fires, that photo would have gone up in flames.
“I see there is much that I’ve been blind to over the years,” he said, then glanced at Darius. “If she and Susanne haven’t been kidnapped, then where have they gone?”
Darius considered this. “I have wolves loyal to me and my family. I imagine they are responsible for this, with my daughter’s encouragement. You will probably even receive a ransom call soon. I know this group well. I have been funding them after
all
“For what purpose?” George demanded.
Darius shrugged. “My pack has been run into the ground. I was planning on overthrowing Gideon and his family by force.”
I stilled, a protective kind of urgency rushing through me. This was the guy we were going to let go? What was to stop him from collecting his rogues and trying to kill us again?
“Daphne is probably helping Susanne and Victoria to some end,” Darius said. “Though specifically what, I could not be
certain.”
“You are being upfront with all of this,” George said. “It isn’t like you to deceive.”
“I have promises from my Alpha here that once I confess, I will be released from his custody.”
My chest ached as my fury rose. I hated the thought of him being free.
George looked to Gideon. “Is this true?”
“I told him I would release him, yes,” I said.
George nodded. “Then I will arrest you myself.”
Darius’s eyes went wide. “What? You can’t do that! I have immunity!”
“From Gideon. Not from me,” George said. “No authority in this kingdom is higher than my will You have plotted against my family for the last time Darius. You will be grateful if I only decide to imprison you for life. For what you’ve done, I should take your head.”
10:12 Thu, Feb 19 MO
Chapter 203
95
55 vouchers
Darius paled and his mouth fell open. He looked like he wanted to argue, but he didn’t say a word as the royal guard stepped in, taking control of him from Gideon’s guard.
“Y–you can’t do this!” Darius continued to plea, even as he was taken away.
Gideon smirked a little. “I was hoping that would happen.”
I realized something. “That’s why you were so willing to give the pardon. Because you knew it wouldn’t hold.”
“I had a pretty good idea,” Gideon said.
Nearby, George sighed as he turned to me. “I am so sorry, Claire. All this time… I wish I had discovered this sooner. If I could have stopped all this, saved your mother…” He closed his eyes, likely in an attempt to hide his emotion, but it was still clear all over his face. “I love her, so very much. Even now.”
With a shaky breath he opened his eyes again. “I must prepare for this ransom call.” He turned to Gideon. “Thank you for your help in this, Gideon. You have proven yourself capable and I grant you permission to marry my daughter.”
Marry…?!
I froze.
Gideon looked at me, his eyes a little wide, as George walked away.
“Did you ask for his permission to marry me?” I asked Gideon.
“No,” he said. “But…” He cleared his throat, suddenly looking a little nervous. “Now that we have it… What if… What I mean is… Should we consider it? Would you want to marry me?”
AD
